We all scream for ice cream!

Grandpa treated Mitchell to his first treat from the Ice Cream Man! We picked a small popsicle and boy, did he LOVE it! He was a little confused at first, so Jacob and my Dad showed him out to lick it (rather than bite it). It didn't take long for him to figure out!

Check out this blue face! :)

How many times will it take before he starts begging for ice cream as soon as he hears that little song?

Happy 17 Months!

Mitchell is 17 months old today!

Gran bought Mitchell a cute little outfit while she was visiting. It quickly became our Memorial day outfit and will likely resurface for 4th of July :)

Mitchell is SOOOO much fun these days - talking up a storm! Just yesterday I heard him say probably 5 words that I'd never heard before including some of my new favorites "hot dog" and "stinky".

He's still fairly fond of his mommy (can you blame the kid? ha!) One of his newer things is to show Mommy where he wants her to be. He'll do his best to push me up out of a chair saying "up" and then proceed to lead me to whatever it is that he needs....usually I'm needed to rescue a trapped toy.

I think Mitchell has begun to associate taking pictures with his little chair above. The other day we were playing in the room where we keep the chair and Mitchell sat down in the chair, turned towards me, smiled and said "cheese". Ha! I had no camera in hand to capture the picture - but it's created a mental picture that I hope I never forget :)

He's still on a good sleep schedule; agreeding it's time for bed around 8:30 and not waking until after 7am these days! Woo hoo!

He LOVES the water. We took him to the 'big' pool for the first time last weekend and the water was surprisingly warm already! He had a blast splashing in the water with all of the other kids. Jacob took him down a few slides, which he loved and we had a hard time talking him into leaving when we were done! I think it's going to be one of our favorite summer activities!

He has recently invented his own little game of crochet, using a wooden mallot and his various balls around the house. It entertains him for hours...okay, at least multiple minutes at a time! Jacob bought him a new little train which he calls "choo choo" at a garage sale last week and it has quickly become of his favorites!

We are headed to Minneapolis this weekend to visit my family. Jacob is teaching training downtown MN next week, so we tagged this trip on to the beginning of it. Mitchell is excited to see Grandma, Grandpa and his Aunt Kel!

Happy Memorial Day!

Happy Memorial Day! The weather couldn't have been better and we had a wonderful visit from Jacob's mom and Rick. The highlight of the trip was the fun event we attended last night -- "Celebration at the Station" at Union Station.




There were tens of thousands of people there on blankets and lawn chairs out on the lawn of Liberty Memorial. They had a concert from the Kansas City Symphony followed by fireworks!

They recognized each of the divisions of the armed forces separately and asked anyone who'd served to rise and be recognized. Rick served in the Air Force, so we got to give him (and the others) a big round of applause. Here he is with Mitchell standing in front of a dark Liberty Memorial (you can barely see it over Rick's other shoulder).


Mitchell really enjoyed the fireworks....and cuddling with Gran and Pops.

The fireworks looked even prettier over the memorial!


Great weather, great visit, great weekend!

Royal's Game!

It was a beautiful afternoon yesterday (~80 degrees and sunny) and the Royal's played a 1:10pm game with their star pitcher pitching, so Jacob and I took a vacation day and took Mitchell to the game! My Dad joined us too and we had a fabulous day!



Mitchell liked watching the players, but continues to call every type of ball a 'basketball'.

He was not a fan of the sunscreen application process...oh, this summer will be fun! Ha!

The favorite American pasttime brings the generations together!

They have a kids area out past the outfield with lots of fun activities. My Dad treated Mitchell to a ride on the carousel. He picked the "Sluggerrr" (mascot of the Royals) to ride on :) He grew bored sitting there until it actually started moving and DID NOT want to get off when it was over!

They also have a large playground area. You can find Mitchell in the lower right hand corner. He's still a tad little for it, but he sure tried to keep up with the big kids (with some helpful hands from all of us!)

What a great start to our Memorial Day weekend! The POOLS open on Saturday, and I couldn't be more excited to take my little water baby to the 'real pool'. We have been practicing in the indoor pool all winter, so I can't wait to see his eyes light up at the 'big' pool! Plus, Jacob's mom and stepdad will be visiting us too! We'll have plenty of things to blog about!

Bruiser

We're learning to run these days....and it's causing its fair share of bumps and bruises. The first of the "boo boos" occurred to his knees, but lately his face has been bearing the brunt of the injuries. :( Here is a picture of last week's injuries - including a scrape and a bruise above his eyebrow and a smaller bruise on his cheek. He got the scrape at home, and honestly I'm not even sure how he got it....it just all of the sudden appeared one morning!

The bruises happened at daycare; apparently he was running on a sidewalk on the playground and took a big face first fall! :(



Another incident happened today, and it caused a NASTY bruise & bump in the middle of his forehead! He fell face first into a book shelf at daycare. His teacher said he cried more about the ice pack than the injury itself.

The only positive is that they had picture day at daycare today where they have professional photographers come in...and the incident didn't occur until after the pictures.

I wish I could take him to school in a 'bubble' tomorrow :(

I titled it Bruiser because we bumped into an older lady at the grocery store when Mitchell was maybe 6 months old, she was fascinated with our red haired child. Apparently she had a red headed grandson who was now grown and Mitchell reminded her of him. After a few minutes of playing with him, she told me that she just had a feeling that he was going to be a "bruiser". I know she meant it in a different context, but I couldn't help but be reminded of her prediction in looking at his face latey. I looked up the definition of bruiser...."a strong, tough person." Used in a sentence "A thick-skinned bruiser ready to give as good as he got." Hmmm...we'll see if she's right!

Fire Station

Jacob's brother is a lieutenant for the local fire station, and he had to work one of the days that we visited, so we went to see him. As you can imagine, all of the boys LOVED the visit!

Here is Uncle Colby with the little man. (Forgive his clothing, I had already gotten him ready for bed before we decided to make the trip.)

Here is Riley entertaining himself in the Ambulance with the EMT. "What do you hear, Riley?"

Here's the whole crew with the "Jaws of Life"

Mitchell said truck about 100 times in 30 minutes. He was in HEAVEN!

They even climbed up on top of the truck. As you can see, Mitchell thought that was really cool!

Jacob tried on Colby's gear and was surprised at how heavy it is! Mitchell was in awe of his hat!

Here he is the next day playing in their mini-fire truck back at their house. Just not quite as exciting :(

Music City!

Jacob taught training in Nashville last week, so Mitchell and I flew out for the weekend to meet him and visit his brother (Colby), his wife (Deana) and their two sons (Reade-4, and Riley-3) who live in a suburb of Nashville .

We all had a great time. I'll post a few pictures each over the next few days. Mitchell LOVED LOVED LOVED playing with the boys! Jacob and I often say that we think Mitchell would make a good "little brother"...unfortunately he's the first born!

Mitchell and Riley cuddle up on the couch watching cartoons on Saturday morning...Riley sat through the entire show. Mitchell sat there for maybe 2 seconds after I took the picture. He's still an active little fellow!

Mitchell and Reade...can't you just see how much Michell adores him :)

Riley and Mitchell read a book together while sitting in Riley's firetruck bed.

Reade and Riley are at that age where they say the funniest things. Here are some of my favorites from the weekend:

Funny Saying One

Riley(3) - referring to Mitchell: "Why does he not talk very much?"

Me: "He doesn't talk much because he's little."

Riley: "I'm little and I talk lots!"

...and he's right, about both points! Both of them talk A LOT! And although Riley is only 3 1/2 years old, he and Mitchell BOTH weigh ~30 pounds! Can you believe that?!?!

Funny Saying Two

Riley - to me: "What's your name again?"

Me: "Mandi"

Riley: "Mandi, you're my best friend."

Reade(4): "You're my bestfriend too!"

Me: "Ahhh...thanks, boys!"

And the biggest compliment

Reade - after hearing Mitchell break into one of his laughing fits: "Aunt Mandi, I think he got his laugh from you."

Aren't they the cutest?!? :) More pics of the the next couple of days.

Post Bathtime Chase

Mitchell LOVES the post-bathtime chase! He is like a little super hero with his cape! (Sorry the quality is similar to the blair witch movie...queasy stomachs beware!)

My Dad and Sherri watched Mitchell last night while I attended a funeral for my friend's brother :( They showed a cute little slideshow of pictures of Ian throughout his life....the little boy pictures evoked the most emotion in me...mostly because they reminded me of my little man. Mitchell was sleeping soundly when I got home. After being away from him all evening it was so comforting to hear him breathing deeply and peacefully through the baby monitor....it's one of my favorite sounds :)

We're headed to Nashville today to meet Jacob and visit his brother & family. Sure to have lots of pictures to post upon our return!

Signing at the airport

I took this little video of Mitchell during one of our many trips to the Airport in March/April. I accidentally left my video camera at my mom's so I finally am able to post it! He is still kind of a signing fiend - similar to the video - but is certainly starting to replace lots of signs with words now days! (And yes, I knew there wouldn't be a baby out there...but it's one of his favorite signs, so I just thought he might do it!)

New update on bedtime...its seems the spider monkey may be a thing of the past. The last three nights now he has actually signed bed to me around 8:30pm. I will then say "oh, you ready to go night-night?" He will shake his head "yes" and we climb the stairs and put him in his bed without another peep! Let's hope this continues! :)

Jacob - king of the non-stop travels - is teaching training this week. He was originally assigned to Atlanta, but was reassigned late last week to Nashville instead. He flew out Sunday night to be there for the week. Jacob's brother Colby & his wife and two sons live in Nashville and we have never visited them, so Mitchell and I are going to fly out there on Friday to stay for the weekend. It should be a good time!

Trouble maker

We had a lovely "event free" weekend! We did some garage saleing on Saturday and scored some new exciting toys...most of which he's not quite old enough for yet! I had a wonderful Mother's Day as Jacob and Mitchell spoiled me all day! :)

Our little man continues to keep us on our toes at all times! He is very active and into literally everything! One of his favorite places to play is the front seat of the car (the backseat is a totally different story!).

I have not taught him how the horn works yet (for fear that he'll honk like crazy), but he hits it on accident quite a bit and gets soooo excited!


Look at me! I'm driving!


We made an attempt to keep Mitchell out of our "cat/laundry" room due his fascination with the litter box. We put up a baby gate, but then cut a whole big enough for the cat ONLY to crawl through. You can look below and tell us how you think it's working



He literally crawled back and forth through this gate probably 50 times this weekend. His favorite game is to drop his balls/cars on the other side of the gate...say "uh, oh" and then quickly climb through to retrieve them....repeat.....

The good news is that now that he is fascinated with the gate, he doesn't even notice the litterbox -- so maybe our plan worked afterall? :)

Visit from Grandma & Grandpa Bays

My mom, David and Mitchell in our front yard

We were lucky enough to get an extended visit from my mom and David. They took Mitchell to Fredonia to visit my Grandpa on Monday. He LOVED LOVED LOVED playing on the farm and the dirt that covered his little body upon his return proved it :)


My Grandpa and Mitchell in Fredonia

My Grandpa bought Mitchell a new little red wagon, which has quickly become Mitchell's favorite new toy!

A morning wagon ride before work/daycare

The only problem with the wagon is that he NEVER wants to get out!



Jacob got home tonight (he was in San Fran for the week again!) We've got a nice, plan-free weekend to look forward to! We've got some busy travels coming up (Atlanta, Minneapolis, Oklahoma) so we're welcoming the downtime!

Mine that Bird....

....is the winner of the 135th Kentucky Derby. Who was the big winner at our party on Saturday???


My stepdad, David....AGAIN! Yes, he won 2 years ago! Is it luck or skill...I'm not really sure yet!


Mitchell was trying my hat on for size (size Extra Large!) :)

We had a great turnout and a LOT of fun at the party! Mitchell was a gem and it helped that both my dad & Sherri and my mom and David were here to help watch him! More mingling time for me!

Mitchell had LOTS of playmates...one of his favorites was our friend Jill & Andy's little girl, Addison. Aren't they cute!?!?


Hmm...is she gonna kiss me? I'll try to act very smug :)

Bathtime mohawk

Tomorrow morning is haircut day for both Mitchell and Jacob, so I had to get a picture of the bathtime mohawk while it is still long! I have only cut Mitchell's hair twice...and you'll likely remember the first time!!!! I was so scarred from that I didn't cut it again from October until March (or maybe it's just that it was sooooo short that it really didn't need it!) I did MUCH better the 2nd time, so hopefully that trend will continue - we'll see!

Mitchell is in bed and Jacob and I are up cooking treats for our Kentucky Derby party tomorrow! Sure to have lots of pictures to post! Who hoo!